Birmingham to announce successful carbon cutting results

Birmingham City Council is to announce this week it has made huge progress on its carbon cutting drive.

The council, in partnership with 33 Birmingham based organisations, will say this Thursday (July 14) it has exceeded carbon cutting targets.

A full report is due before the council's Climate Change and Sustainability Cabinet Committee, which is expected to show a cut of 155,059 tonnes of CO2, beating its target of 130,000 tonnes for 2010 to 2011.

The figures are based on data given to the Birmingham Environmental Partnership by 33 organisations from across the public, private and voluntary sectors and are verified by the Energy Savings Trust.

It total the council has reduced the city's carbon footprint by 378,843 tonnes since 2008 against a goal of 350,000 tonnes for the same period.

This, according to councillors, put it on target to achieve a 60% reduction in emissions by 2026 compared to 1990 levels.

Birmingham City Council deputy leader, Paul Tilsley, said: "To meet our ambitious targets for the third successive year is a tribute in itself to the efforts of everyone across the city who has made a contribution to cut carbon emissions.

"An encouraging point is the way we capture data means not all carbon reduction activity has been captured by this report, this means the savings in all reality are even higher than announced.

"Our focus on improving sustainability will continue as the benefits are huge - a cleaner and greener environment along with increased opportunities for business in emerging technologies to develop here in Birmingham."

Examples of projects that have helped contribute to Birmingham's success include:

·Cadbury have started a number of drives over the 2010/11 including installing energy efficient lighting across the Birmingham site, serviced many of their boilers and introduced additional controls to ensure these are only running as needed.

·The organisation has also introduced awareness raising campaigns around water and energy efficiency.

·The NEC Group has achieved electricity savings by installing energy efficient lighting in one of their convention halls which includes movement and daylight sensors.

·Birmingham Children's Hospital has made several improvements to their buildings during 2010/11 which have resulted in a reduction in their electricity usage.

·Bournville Village Trust has installed solar thermal panels at 167 of their properties during the summer of 2010.